Ice tray



Aug. 28, 1934; A M 1,971,664

' ICE TRAY Filed Sept. 9, 1932 ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 28, 1934 UNITED STATES ICE TRAY Albert C. Smith, Woodside, N. Y., assignor to Servel Sales, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corpora-c tion of Delaware Application September 9, 1932, Serial No. 632,342

4 Claims.

This invention relates to double depth ice trays for use in refrigerators particularly of the domestic type wherein a partition plate is placed between a pair of upper and lower grid or partition members in order to form ice cubes in the respective compartments of the grids and to maintain the cubes within the compartments of the upper grid substantially separate from the cubes in the compartments of the lower grid.

In a tray of the above character two standard single depth grids are employed with a plate therebetween, however, it has been found that when the water or other substance to be frozen is finally congealed there is a tendency for the partition plate between the two sets of grids to be forced upwardly and raise the upper grid and ice carried thereby above the top of the tray, the disadvantages of which are obvious.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above described difiiculty due'to expansion of the water in the lower part of the tray beneath the partition plate as such Water is converted intovice, and to accomplish this result means are provided for permitting the escape of unfrozen water from beneath through the plate into the upper part of the tray as such unfrozen water is displaced by the ice formed.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, where- Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a double depth ice tray illustrating one application of the present invention;

Fig. 2, a part plan part sectional view taken on the line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4, a perspective of the perforated partition plate.

Referring to the drawing, an ice tray is provided with a front 11 having a handle 12. The tray 10 is of a depth corresponding to substantially twice the depth of any ordinary ice tray and is adapted to contain two ordinary single depth grids or partition members 13, separated by a horizontal partition plate 14.

In the process of freezing, heat is conducted 50 from the water or other substance contained in the tray through the tray walls. The ice first forms around the sides of each compartment,

and this ice formation will increase gradually reducing the amount of unfrozen core at the center of the compartment until complete solidi- (Cl. 62108.5) I

fication is accomplished. With ordinary double depth trays having imperforate partitions, the final freezing action in the lower half of the tray tends to push or bulge the partition plate upwardly carrying the top grid with its contents upwardly beyond the top of the tray 10. In order to overcome this difiiculty the plate 14 is provided with perforations 15, in a manner to form a direct communication between each pair of superposed compartments, such perforations 85 being preferably placed at the center of the compartments so that the last freezing portion of the liquid in the lower compartment can be expelled into the upper compartment immediately prior to final congelation, freezing action taking place around the sides of each compartment due to heat transfer from the metal of which the sidewalls are formed.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes may be made in the construction and arrangement without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is described in the specification and shown in the drawing but only as indicated in the appended claims. 7

What is claimed is:

1. An ice tray comprising a relatively flat pan for containing substance to be frozen, a substantially horizontally disposed partition-forming grid in said pan, a second substantially horizontally disposed partition-forming grid located above and corresponding in shape to the first grid in said pan, said grids being interchangeable and providing correspondingly arranged compartments, and a substantially horizontally disposed partition plate separating said corresponding compartments and centrally perforated to afford a central communication between each pair of superposed compartments.

2. An ice tray comprising a relatively flat pan for containing substance to be frozen, a substantially horizontally disposed partition-forming grid in said pan, a second substantially horizontally disposed partition-forming grid located above and corresponding in shape to the first grid in said pan, said grids providing correspondingly arranged compartments, and a substantially horizontally disposed partition plate separating said corresponding compartments and centrally perforated to afford a central communication between each pair of superposed compartments.

3. An ice tray comprising a pan for containing substance to be frozen, compartment defining grids arranged one upon the other in said pan for forming cubes, a partition plate between and separating said compartment defining grids, said partition plate being perforated in a manner to provide direct communication between centers of 5 superposed compartments formed by said grids.

4. An ice tray comprising a pan for containing substance to be frozen, means dividing said pan posed compartments.

ALBERT C. SMITH. 

